The Pacific After years of closure — mud slides, fires, erosion, etc. — Big Sur is accessible from Paso! Whoo hoo! We decide to celebrate our anniversary with a quick trip to Big Sur. We happen to hit a heat wave, a rare occurrence in Big Sur. The Pacific is always beautiful but it is spectacular during a heat wave. We stop by a few beaches, and have lunch at Nepenthe, a must-visit spot, before heading to the hotel.
We, and by we, we mean Assana, have a must-visit list of hotels. And we pick special occasions for visiting these special hotels. For example Amangiri which we visited when… well, bad example, we had no reason. Only because we wanted to.
14 Our wedding anniversary is a good occasion to visit one, and this time we are going to Post Ranch Inn, long on our to-go list. And wha’ do you know, like many over-anticipated scenarios we are not impressed, at least not in our first impression.
Starting with the gate guy greets us and asks if we are there for the restaurant. No, we are checking in. So did the bellboy, and the front desk dude #1, and the second front desk guy, then the valet guy, etc. etc. etc. Talk to each other, people!!
Anyways… we arrive a couple of hours early, looking forward to our early checking which we have pre-arranged.
A/C Well, our room is not ready. Why not? No explanation. “Go walk around the grounds!” Is what we are advised, during a crazy ass heat wave, mind you. Check-in time arrives; room is not ready. Why not? No explanation. Check-in time passes; room is not ready. Why not? No explanation.
Finally someone blurbs that they are putting the final touches on the A/C! Wait a minute, what do you mean final touches on the A/C? “Is the A/C broken?” “No, we are just putting the final touches.” We shame them into taking us to our room, and sure enough, the repair man spits out the truth: A/C doesn’t work. Still no comment from the front desk! Better yet, they act surprised when we tell them that the A/C doesn’t work. Kind’a infuriating.
Andrew Harper They do eventually fix it while we are dinner. Little do they know Assana reaches out to her big-wig buddy at Andrew Harper, who in turn calls the hotel and kicks their ass. The next night the restaurant pampers us much more, comps our entire dinner, and profusely apologizes for everyone else’s behavior. And yes, we do appreciate their effort to make it up to us. And all of this aside, we are still glad we came: the views out of our room are to die for, the restaurant gives us the best table with the best view each night, and the weather is simply amazing.
All The Pfeiffers Talking of great weather and Big Sur out-of-construction, we are hoping trails are open and we can get some hiking done. Well, they are not open Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park… or is it Big Sur Pfeiffer Beach? We decide to go to the falls. Is it Pfeiffer Falls. Hm, or are the falls off of Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge? We have to go to Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park, right? No, wait, that’s where the visitor center is, but not where the trails are. Where are the trails? Who knows! Good grief, Big Sur! Pick a different name, get some maps, and fire the dude in the visitor center who doesn’t clarify that “make a right here” means go up the road by another mile and through another gate.
🔥 [August Update]: Big Sur’s calm didn’t last. A few weeks after our visit Big Sur was hit by more wildfires. It is currently burning up in multiple spots. So sad. We hope the fires are extinguished soon. And we hope to come back again but probably not to PRI!
